I Will Never Forget You
by fairytalendings
Summary: A collection of Keeper of the Lost Cities oneshots, drabbles, and double drabbles.
1. Jealous

_This fanfic is just a collection of oneshots for the Keeper of the Lost Cities fandom. I will not be updating regularly, but I promise that I won't stop updating this until I reach 100 oneshots in this single fanfic. Please feel free to PM me any ships you want to see, any songs you want me to use, prompts, quotes, scenes, etc. Above all, enjoy! : )_

 _-R.C. (Rosie Crescent aka fairytalendings)_

 **Jealous**

 **-o-**

 **Song: "Jealous" by Nick Jonas**

 _I don't like the way he's looking at you_.

Keefe could see it in the way her eyes sparkled when she looked at Fitz. The way she blushed when he praised her. The way she something snuck glances at him when she thought nobody was looking.

She was falling for Fitz.

 _I turn my chin, music up, and I'm puffing my chest. I'm getting ready to face you, you can call me obsessed._

So it really was stupid that he would try to impress her with his jokes. That he would get her attention by teasing her. Because she would never love him.

Because she was falling for Fitz.

 _And everybody wants a taste._

So when he took her by the hand and asked her if she wanted to be with him, he was surprised by her answer.

 _I still get jealous._

She was falling for Keefe.


	2. Shatter

**Shatter**

 **-o-**

Brant didn't know how he'd become uncontrollable. He just knew he was.

He let his anger fill his mind, let it consume him. He let himself release his anger all around him.

He ignored her screams to control himself and stop it. He only paid attention to the heat, the flickering of the flames. The beautiful orange glow of the fire as it consumed everything in its path, including her.

When his rage finally faded away, she was gone forever.

It was his fault.

And he let the guilt consume him, as his anger did. He let it shatter him.


	3. The Black Swans

_Credits to **Stars and Alicorns** for this idea! Thank you : )_

 _-R.C._

 **The Black Swans**

 **-o-**

"Guys! I got a call!" Biana squealed, waving her ringing cell phone in the air. "From _them!"_

"What?" Sophie bolted upright (she had been lying on the couch), and the rest of the Black Swans jerked to attention. By _them_ , Biana was referring to Eternalia Records, the record label that the Black Swans had sent a demo tape to, with the hopes that they would be able to secure a contract and continue on their way to stardom. The Black Swans, which consisted of Sophie, Biana, Fitz, Keefe, Dex, Linh, and Tam, met regularly in the basement of Sophie's home. Although Sophie hated conforming to a stereotype like that, the basement was undeniably the best spot for practicing. The band needed a place where the equipment could stay, probably permanently, and Sophie's room wasn't big enough. Also, Grady and Edaline, Sophie's adoptive parents, admitted they wanted peace and quiet, so practicing in the living room wasn't exactly the picture of "quiet" Grady and Edaline were expecting.

The entire band listened in rapt attention as Biana took on a sweet, yet business-like tone, which was precisely why the band chose Biana's phone number as the contact number.

"Hello? Yeah, this is the contact number for The Black Swans." Biana turned and gave the group a thumbs up. She listened as the speaker on the other end spoke, and her lips twitched upwards. "That's great! Thank you so much! Yeah, we'll call you back for an appointment." She placed her phone down on the table, unable to stop a joyful laugh from escaping. "They're willing to offer us a contract!"

The room erupted in whooping and cheering. Sophie, caught up in the moment, hugged the person next to her - which happened to be Dex - who turned bright red. She traded high fives with the boys, then shared a group hug with Linh and Biana.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!" Linh shrieked, and Sophie couldn't agree more. The band members were only in their senior year of high school, so an achievement like that seemed to compare to winning a Grammy. Sophie was so excited, she could barely breath. Before, she doubted if she could make music part of her career. Sure, she was still going to go to Juilliard, but she didn't know how long it would be until her career started to peak. Musicians pretty much had to be famous in order to make enough money to support themselves.

"We heard shouting up here," a familiar male voice said, and Grady's head peeked in through the doorway of the basement. He stepped in, followed by Edaline.

"We made it!" Sophie rushed forward, tackling both her parents in a hug. "We made it!"

"Wow, really?" Edaline's mouth opened slightly, and she stared at Sophie in shock. "Eternalia Records - you got a contract - ?"

"They said they're ready to offer us a contract," Sophie explained, her eyes shining.

"To be honest, I didn't think we'd make it unless we had, you know, people we _knew_ in the company," Keefe said, coming up behind her _._

"Well, you lost that bet," Sophie said, rolling her eyes, but grinning at the same time.

* * *

"So, for now, we'll offer you a one year contract, just to test the waters, you know, and then we can think about a longer one." Agnes, one of the artists and repertoire (A&R) executives, explained. The band faced her on a long, wooden table. She sat primly, her hands folded in front of her.

"How long do you think until an album for us is produced?" Fitz asked.

"Well, since you guys have already gotten some material already, we only need a couple more songs. So, I think that half a year would do it, actually."

The Black Swans traded glances with each other, but they already knew the answer. "We'll do it!" Tam agreed for all of them, and Agnes smiled.

"Welcome to Eternalia Records!"

* * *

It was another day at the studio. Sophie sighed, and drew her hands across her tired eyes. She didn't know that recording songs would be _this_ taxing. All she wanted to do was go home and curl up with a long, good book. Lord of the Rings, maybe. And maybe a cup of hot tea, too. That would be nice.

"We're almost there," Marcus, the director of the studio production department, encouraged. "Just try to brush up on that high note, Keefe. It's a bit shaky."

"Don't you have autotune for that?" Keefe grumbled, and Sophie elbowed him. Marcus chuckled, already used to Keefe's snappy comments.

"That's where most people get it wrong. No, we don't autotune mistakes out. We _enhance_ the voice of singers with autotune, but we don't change how the pitch of their voice, or how their voice sounds entirely."

"Just checking." Keefe mumbled.

Sophie took off her headset for a moment, rubbing her ears. The long hours of having it pressed against her head made it painful to move her ears, and she winced slightly.

So far, the current song they were recording, _Everblaze_ , allowed Sophie and Keefe to relax their guitar playing, so they sang instead. The rest of the Black Swans still strummed their instruments, however. Dex manned the keyboard, and Tam the drums. Linh played the electric violin (a uniqueness in the band that the record company liked). Finally, Biana and Fitz switched off singing and playing the guitar, or electric guitar, with Sophie and Keefe. It sounded like an arbitrary combination of instruments, but in reality, the music they produced was both unique and beautiful.

The band ran through the song one last time, and Marcus clapped at the end. "Well done! That's a wrap for the last song of _The Lost Cities_ album. We can use the last one. And you're done with any studio recordings for now."

"Finally!" Dex whooped, and high-fived Keefe. "We can go watch Netflix now."

"The only thing you two will be watching are your dreams in your sleep," Sophie cut in. She gave the two an appraising glance. "We have an interview at ten in the morning tomorrow, remember?"

"Ten isn't _that_ early," Keefe argued.

"No, but you need to get ready in the morning, which is about thirty minutes, an hour if you're Biana. And then you need to eat breakfast, so that takes about thirty more minutes. And then you need to get to the studio so we can meet up, which takes about fifteen probably. And then you have to get your outfit and makeup done by the makeup artists, so that takes about another hour. And then we have to drive to the interview, which takes about an hour. So, you should probably wake up at about…" Sophie trailed off, calculating, "six forty-five."

Dex and Keefe both groaned in unison. "Way to ruin the mood there, Foster," Keefe complained.

"Leave it to Sophie to give _bedtimes_ ," Fitz said, looking chastised.

"Hey, if you didn't have me, this band would a mess," Sophie said, flipping her hair dramatically. "Admit it - you need me."

"I'm with Sophie there," Biana chimed in, wrapping an arm around Sophie's shoulders.

"Same here," Linh added, copying Biana.

"See you at the studio at eight," Sophie laughed, and the girls tromped towards the door, ignoring the amusement on Marcus's face at the sight of the four other boys groaning.

"You're lucky to be so privileged to have taken off with your career so early," Sophie heard Marcus half-heartedly reprimanding the boys. "You shouldn't be complaining."

 _Yes, we are lucky,_ Sophie agreed. She smiled at the thought that she would spend the rest of her life making music with her best friends. _Very lucky_.


	4. I'll Do Anything For You

**I'll Do Anything For You**

 **-o-**

The day Sophie and her friends had been reported to have disappeared, Oralie smiled to herself. If the other Councillors discovered that Oralie had came across them escaping and let them go - besides handing over Kenric's cache - they would be horrified. Luckily, all the Councillors suspected nothing about Oralie. To them, she was just like her appearance, an innocent, angelic councillor who was devastated about Kenric's death.

"This is a most troubling discovery." Emery's voice echoed around the meeting room. Goblins were stationed at the door, and each of the twelve councillors had a bodyguard standing behind their seat. "Especially in the midst of all this chaos."

"Emery, why can't we remove Alden's title as Emissary? He obviously had a hand in their escape," Alina said sharply. Oralie frowned. Alina was known for specifically _favoring_ Alden. For her to accuse Alden openly, as well as suggest his removal from a high-ranking job was very much unlike her. Oralie wondered if the two had had a disagreement.

"Because we have no proof he had a hand in it," Emery sighed. "I, as well as you all, do not want to order a memory break on him. Without a memory break, we cannot probe his memories. He is too skilled a Telepath. Besides, the children are harmless. They will not bother us for now. Anyhow, we need Alden. Like I said before, he is a skilled Telepath that we need. He has never done anything to harm the Lost Cities, and he only believes that helping the children will help the community. He has no harmful thoughts in his mind. With this plague we have going on, we need all the help we can get."

There were murmurs of agreement around the room.

"Harmless?" Noland demanded incredulously. "The girl, Sophie Foster, almost had us at war with the ogres!"

"She did not mean to probe Dimitar's mind." Bronte, who had originally despised Sophie from at the start, now defended the elf, which surprised all. "She deeply felt Kenric's loss. We all did. And grief does strange things to us all, does it not? Besides, Dimitar showing up at the planting was unexpected. And, only understanding that we and the ogres had a tense relationship, Sophie did what her instincts told her to do. She wanted to know what Dimitar was up to."

Oralie gave a start at the mention of Kenric's name. _Breath, Oralie_ , she told herself. _You can get over his death._ All around her, the elves did the same, their faces hardening at the thought of their late friend.

"Dimitar showing up was not unexpected," Noland argued. "Not for a Councillor's planting."

"We must stop pretending that our relationship with the ogres had been peaceful from the start." Emery moderated the argument, silencing both elves. "We all know that our relationship with the ogres has not been very smooth, as it has been with the dwarves and gnomes."

"I agree," Oralie spoke up, her voice softly floating across the room. "The only thing that kept us from going to war against them is the treaty. And I'm afraid our relationship with them may never be entirely mended, with the direction we are going right now."

* * *

"How are you, Kenric?" Oralie knelt by Kenric's thriving sapling. It was the middle of the night, and a crescent moon gleamed overhead, surrounded by thousands of stars, like the jewels sown onto her dark purple cape. Oralie couldn't fall asleep, so she had decided to pay the Wanderling Woods a surprise visit.

Her two bodyguards remained behind at a respectful distance, enough to keep her in sight, but far enough away so that they could not hear what she was saying. They scanned the landscape around them, keeping a lookout for any potential danger. Their hands remained grasping the hilt of the gleaming swords strapped to their belts, ready to attack if needed.

"I did what you asked. I gave Sophie your cache as she was about to leave. She has my full support, as it was your wish." Oralie's tone was wistful and sorrowful. She thought about the life Kenric and she _could_ have had together. They might have resigned in order to wed each other. They might have started a life with one another. Or they could have just spent day after day working side by side as Councillors, pretending to feel nothing for one another, as they had done up to Kenric's death. "Why did you go?" Oralie couldn't stop a tear from slipping down her cheek. "Why? I can say it, now that you are gone. I loved you." She was sobbing then, her tears pouring onto the dirt like rain. She bent her head down, staring at the ground. "I want you to come back. I'll do anything for you to come back to me. Come back. Please. I-I'll resign for you." Oralie looked up at the sapling, hoping for a sign that Kenric had heard, even though she knew it would never happen.

When nothing happened, Oralie buried her face in her hands, wanting to punish something for her loss. She spilled out her anger in her mind, unraveling her feelings, not knowing how to feel. Should she move on already? Was it wrong to want to punish Fintan for Kenric's death? How did humans bear this grief so well, with loved ones passing away so often? Suddenly, she had felt a newfound respect for humans.

Finally, Oralie stood up, wiping her eyes. "I will see you soon, Kenric," she whispered to the tree. She turned and walked towards her bodyguards. She held her pathfinder up to the sky, creating a beam of light. Her bodyguards walked into it first, and Oralie followed, but not before giving a second glance at Kenric's sapling, which seemingly had not changed.

But unbeknownst to her, a single red flower bloomed on the tree, like a bright light of hope in the midst of the despair of darkness.


	5. Another Now

_Idea (including song) by_ ** _KOTLC 1 Fan._** _I hope you like it!_

 _-R.C._

 **Another Now**

 **-o-**

 **Song: "Another Now" by Kate Alexa**

 _It was only just the other day, when all this felt so real, like nothing could go wrong_

A month had passed since Sophie and Fitz's split, and Fitz still remained unable to think about anybody other than Sophie.

"Come on, Fitz, you need to move on," Biana tried telling her brother. "Why not just ask out Linh?"

"No!" Fitz almost yelled, and Biana took a step back. Fitz winced. "Sorry. But anybody _but_ her."

On the outside, Fitz remained like he used to be; joking around with Keefe and Dex and teasing his sister. The only difference was that Sophie was cut out from his life - entirely. She refused to sit at the same lunch table as him, so Biana, Keefe, and Dex took turns sitting with him and Sophie.

But Fitz still couldn't accept the fact that their relationship was over because of a misunderstanding. He loved her, he really did. He loved the way her brown eyes twinkled when she laughed. He loved that she had so much love and empathy inside of her. He even loved the way she blushed and was nervous whenever he held her hand or gave her a compliment. He missed everything about her, and he wanted her back.

 _I know I need some time, to leave all this behind,'cause I'm still hanging on_

Which was how he found himself knocking on Sophie's door a month later, hoping she had cooled down enough to at least listen to him.

Much to his embarrassment, Grady answered the door. He frowned and gave Fitz an appraising stare, no doubt having heard from Sophie about Fitz's treachery. "Oh, hello, Fitz."

"Hi, uh, Lord Ruewen," Fitz mumbled, his cheeks getting red. "I wanted to talk to Sophie."

"Sophie?" Grady's frown deepened. "I'm not sure she wants to talk to you."

"Please?" Fitz begged. "Please. I need another chance."

Grady looked torn - like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say. "Alright." Grady finally nodded. "She's in her room, but I'll go up first so you don't scare her."

Grady opened the door wider so Fitz could come inside. Immediately after closing the door, he turned and tromped up the stairs. A door slamming shut told Fitz that Grady was now inside Sophie's room.

Moments later, Grady came back down, looking slightly frazzled. "You can thank me later. She almost flat-out refused, but I convinced her to listen."

"Thank you so much, Lord Ruewen." Fitz almost hugged Grady in his joy. She would listen to him! Once she realized that what she saw wasn't what really happened, they'd be together again. It was perfect.

Only, it wasn't.

 _But I'm breathing in and I'm breathing out, I'm wide awake but I can't hear a sound_

"Okay, _what_?" Sophie sighed once she admitted Fitz into her room. He stood awkwardly while Sophie was seated on her bed, looking expectantly at him. She didn't look angry anymore, but only annoyed.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Fitz blurted, getting right to the point. "Linh kissed me first. I didn't want to."

A few seconds of silence stretched before Sophie spoke. "So, you're saying that this _entire month_ , you let me believe that you were with Linh behind my back?"

"You wouldn't listen!" Fitz defended himself.

"How do I know you aren't making this up?" Sophie demanded. "It looked very much like what it was."

"Because I - " Fitz swallowed. Oh, how did Keefe do this stuff? "I love you, Sophie. Did you know that not a day went by after our split with me wishing we were back together? Did you know I never spoke to Linh again? Did you?"

Sophie looked taken aback. "You - you didn't start dating Linh?"

"No!" Fitz exclaimed. "We were never together, and we never will be. Because I like somebody else, Sophie. And that somebody is _you_."

"I don't know what to say." Sophie looked away.

"Then say that you forgive me and you'll be with me again," Fitz insisted. "Please."

 _I'm sitting here, all alone, nowhere to move, nowhere to go,'cause nothing's real, I just wanna hide_

"I forgive you," Sophie murmured, "but I can't be with you."

Fitz went pale. She couldn't - what? "W-What do you mean?" he stammered. "I swear, I'm not with Linh. You can ask her yourself. Ask Biana."

"I can't be with you because I'm already with Keefe," Sophie said, looking at Fitz sympathetically. "We've been together for a week now."

 _But I'm breathing in, I can't think about another you, another me, another now_

"You're with…Keefe?" Fitz couldn't believe my ears. His best friend was dating his ex-girlfriend? Without telling him? At first, jealously and anger filled his mind, but he quelled them. _It's not his fault_ , he told himself. _He thought we weren't going to get back together. You can't blame him or Sophie for their feelings_.

"And…I kind of…" Sophie trailed off, looking down. "I'm sorry, Fitz. I really am. It's just…I don't really think of being with you anymore. I like you, Fitz, and I am perfectly fine with us being friends. But I don't think I want to be anything more than that with you."

Fitz could feel his heart shattering into pieces. It was agonizing, finding out that the person you loved didn't love you back. And all this suffering, just to find out that Sophie had fallen out of her childhood crush on him. But he remained calm on the outside, only giving Sophie a sad smile.

"I understand," he said softly. Taking her hand, he noticed the ring on her thumb. The cognate ring he'd given her. He smiled at it, somehow reassured by the fact that she'd still kept it and wore it. "I'll always be there for you."

Sophie smiled at him, and her smile was sad, too. "I'm sorry, Fitz. I'm here for you, too." Unexpectedly, she stood up and wrapped Fitz in a hug.

"Friends?" Fitz asked, his voice slightly muffled.

"Friends," Sophie replied. "Forever."

 _Another you, another me, another now_


	6. The Not-So Mysterious Karaoke Theft

_As you've probably noticed, all the fanfics I've written so far were pretty much all mostly heartbreak ones. So, I decided to go for a lighter turn, and write about Sophie and Amy's sisterhood together. Hopefully, this will be a bit more uplifting. Enjoy!_

 _-R.C._

 **The Not-So Mysterious Karaoke Theft**

 **-o-**

Sophie Elizabeth Foster always tried to be a good sister.

She was the oldest, after all. She was _supposed_ to be a good role model, wasn't she? So it meant that even if Amy constantly pestered her, broke the silence in the house when Sophie wanted to just concentrate, or even if she stole things from her room, she still had to plaster a sweet smile to her face and talk, _maturely_ , to either Amy or her parents about it.

But the key word here was that she _tried_.

Which meant that sometimes, she couldn't stand it anymore. Amy would say something, and all of a sudden, something would snap inside of her like a rubber band being stretched too far. And her emotions would spill out of her in a flurry of harsh words, a stomp to her room, and a slam of her door.

Amy always cried after it happened, and Sophie would always feel guilty after she'd cooled down. Which was just as well, since it didn't happen often.

But sometimes, her annoyance took control of her in another way.

One time, it was in the shape of a karaoke game that her sister always played.

Called _Sing it!_ , the game was a toy that Amy received from her parents for Christmas. Although Sophie was only eight at the time, she understood that it was a very expensive toy, and that her parents never got her anything that expensive for _her_. It was enough to make her feel a twinge of jealousy, but not enough yet to make her want to take action.

And then Amy started using it.

She'd sing along, her singing as in tune and soothing as any five-year-old's singing was. Which was, to be frank, terrible and horrifying. Her high-pitched wails sounded like she was screaming bloody murder. She found a way to sing every single note off-key. And with a mind like Sophie's, it was hard to ignore the off-key parts.

If that wasn't enough, Amy decided that she was going to become a professional singer someday. So she "practiced" singing twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And her singing was _loud_. Sophie was surprised the neighbors didn't come in to complain.

Sophie, on the other hand, _did_ complain to her parents.

"Oh, honey, it's just a phase," her mom replied flippantly, gazing at Amy as if she were an angel. "She'll get tired of it and stop sooner or later."

Her dad just threw her a wink and whispered, "I'm getting tired of it, too, hang in there Soybean," when her mom wasn't listening.

But Amy didn't stop.

Months passed. Amy kept on singing. Sick? She'd sing right through that sore throat. Vacation? She'd sing it in the car while her parents were driving.

Sophie found it irritatingly impressive that her sister _still_ had the determination to keep singing. At this point, Sophie was sure that the saying "practice makes perfect" wasn't true. She had evidence! Her own sister had sung nonstop for almost a year, and she still hadn't hit a single note in the right pitch yet.

But enough was enough. After listening to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" being sung off pitch for the billionth time, Sophie decided she would take matters into her own hands.

Late at night, while everybody was asleep, she snuck downstairs to the family room where all of Amy's toys were kept. She found the karaoke game on the sofa, where Amy had been using it just the night before. Feeling triumphant as she tip-toed back to her room with it in hand, she faced a problem. She'd taken it, but where would she put it?

Looking around her room, she saw her dress-up trunk and found a solution.

Her dress-up trunk hadn't been used for a long time. The dresses in there were old, most being unwearable, and none of them had been washed for a long time. Sophie was sure that her parents would _never_ give their darling little Amy a hand-me-down trunk of old dresses. Even if they did, they would ask Sophie first, and she would just find a new hiding spot for the game. So she sandwiched the karaoke game between layers of clothes, closed her trunk, and slipped back into her bed, feeling a bit rebellious since she'd just stolen her sister's toy. And, of course, she was sure she would never hear Amy sing again.

While that was true, she was met with the sound of screaming and crying downstairs the next day instead. Amy was throwing a tantrum, wanting her karaoke game back that instant. Her parents were frantically looking behind pillows, ducking their heads to see into the crack between the sofa and the floor, trying to find the karaoke game.

"Have you seen it, Soybean?" her dad asked. "You didn't take it, did you?"

"No!" Sophie protested, trying to look innocent. She tried to stop her hands from fidgeting. "I hated her singing, but I wouldn't do that!" Luckily, her parents were so busy looking for the game that they didn't bother to question her more closely, or see that Sophie was wringing her hands nervously.

In the end, the game was never found, much to Sophie's delight. After several days of listening to Amy cry, her parents bought a toy walkie-talkie set, which stopped the constant wailing. Amy made Sophie play "The Talkie Game" with her more times than Sophie found necessary.

But at least Amy wasn't singing anymore.


End file.
